Building One PA signals start of movement

On a hot Friday a couple of weeks ago, at a college campus named for a man who won a legislative victory to protect educational opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, a movement began.

More than 650 people from all corners of Pennsylvania convened July 16 in Lancaster, at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, for the first Building One Pennsylvania Conference. It was a diverse group: white, black, Latino, business, labor, the faith community, members of school boards and municipal boards. They came from the southwest corner of the state and from the northeast, from Pottstown to Penn Hills.

They heard speakers and panel discussions make the argument that some have been making for years: that older communities in Pennsylvania - our urban centers, first-ring suburbs and boroughs - have been hollowed out by decades of state and federal policies that have favored new development and subsidized sprawl at the expense of these established core communities.

What was new at this event was that the discussion was happening within the context of a new organizing structure, one linked to various civic and business groups in regions across the state that have come together to advocate on common issues. The convening partners for the event included Good Schools Pennsylvania, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, the Southeastern Pennsylvania First Suburbs Project, the Pennsylvania Council of Churches and YorkCounts.

These groups and the hundreds of other organizations that sent representatives agree on a couple of basic ideas. Crumbling infrastructure isn’t just a problem in one older city, borough or first-ring suburb; it’s happening in older communities and now even many suburban townships across the state. Struggling school districts, overwhelmed by the twin challenges of poverty and a declining tax base, aren’t just a problem in Norristown, York or Wilkinsburg; they exist in scores of communities across the state.

The people in attendance realized they have strength in numbers. In Allegheny County, for example, one speaker noted the significance of the shared problems faced by Pittsburgh and its 35 inner-ring neighbors. A lot of people live there and have jobs there. A number of legislators represent that area. Multiply that for various regions across the state, and there is one clear conclusion: These linked groups represent a growing political force.

And it appears that political leadership from both parties is paying attention. State Sen. Ted Erickson (R-Delaware and Chester counties), chairman of the Senate Majority Policy Committee, expressed his support for the coalition’s efforts to address these important issues. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster County), indicated he, too, was willing to help advance a policy agenda that would reverse the decline experienced by so many municipalities and school districts across Pennsylvania over the past half century.

The work that has been done to date to build this statewide coalition is energizing, and the initial reaction from some of our key legislative leaders is encouraging. In the end, though, success will be measured by the coalition’s ability to bring about policy changes in Harrisburg that will benefit all communities within our great Commonwealth. I hope that more people will join together in this effort to bring a better day in Pennsylvania.

- Dan Fink